Viktoria Modesta

Viktoria Modesta

Viktoria Modesta is a Latvian-born singer-songwriter, performance artist and model. Born Viktorija Moskaļova in Daugavpils in 1988, she begins singing at the age of six at a local music school. She moves with her family to the United Kingdom when she is 12 and later emerges on the London scene in 2008.

Early life and physicality

Modesta spends much of her childhood in and out of hospitals because of a birth injury that affects her left leg. After years of unsuccessful procedures to correct problems with her leg and hip, she chooses to have a below-the-knee amputation in 2007 to improve her mobility and protect her long-term health. Her use of prosthetics becomes a central part of her public image, and her work is associated with challenging mainstream ideas of altered beauty and physical appearance.

Music and performance

Returning to her music-school background, she works with songwriter Nik Hodges on a set of club-oriented pop songs released as EP1 in 2010. Her sound is broadly described as pop and electropop with electronic elements. She also develops a visual identity through fashion and performance, working with the Alternative Limb Project to explore prosthetics as part of art, fashion and practical design.

Notable appearances and works

Modesta appears in photographs and videos wearing a range of unusual leg designs. Her performance at the 2012 Paralympic Closing Ceremonies with Coldplay becomes a defining moment in her career. In 2014, she works with Channel 4 to launch the video for her song “Prototype”, presented with the tagline “Born Risky”, and uses a series of striking prosthetics in the production.

Identity and significance

She builds a profile as an artist whose music, modelling and performance work are closely linked. Her public image centres on disability, sexuality and body modification, and she presents herself as an amputee pop artist with a distinctive visual style.